The team behind a controversial video games console has given a fresh delivery date pledge after the crowdfunding platform it used threatened to recoup backers' funds.

The Sinclair ZX Vega+ handheld was originally scheduled for delivery in September 2016, but has been repeatedly delayed.

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Indiegogo told the BBC on Friday that it had set an end-of-May deadline.

The US company intends to appoint a third-party collections agency to obtain and return the 85 to 100 paid by consumers to get one of the machines, if that target is missed.

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The London-based company (Retro Computers Ltd.) had raised 512,790 via Indiegogo for the project before it was blocked from raising further funds last year due to delays and a lack of communication with backers.

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In a series of updates posted to Indiegogo, RCL acknowledged that it had "understandably been criticised for extended periods of 'radio silence'". It said it had been the subject of a "troll campaign" of criticism and blamed a series of issues for the delays, including:

-- a legal dispute with former company director Paul Andrews among others

-- a light bleed into the display of the device caused by problems with the original design of its plastic casing

-- a need to re-engineer the console's buttons, which are now said to be more comfortable

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The BBC last reported on the Vega+ campaign in March 2017.

The company requested that the article not be published at the time on the grounds that it might compromise a police investigation.

The BBC did delay publication to give the company time to provide relevant evidence, but it never did so.

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The latest promises are being made a week after a judge at Luton County Court ordered RCL to refund one of the console's backers, as reported by The Register...